Genres
Description
Tolstoy wrote that happy families are alike and that each unhappy family is unhappy in a different way.In Watch Your Mouth, Daniel Handler takes "different" to a whole new level....
Subjects
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2002-02
Publication
Harper Perennial (2002), Edition: Reprint, 240 pages
ISBN
006093817X / 9780060938178
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User reviews
LibraryThing member TheAmpersand
"Watch Your Mouth" is a hodgepodge of Jewish mysticism, opera, murder mystery, farce, black humor and transgressive sex. It's also, by turns, funny, weird, sexy, thrilling and touching. Its writing is smart as a post-doc and it's fairly bursting with energy. Although I'm impressed that Daniel
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Handler was able to cram all those elements and attributes into just over two hundred pages, I'm not sure that "Watch Your Mouth" is a great book, but it is a funny, breezy, amusing one. The twin structural devices that Handler uses to corral all this wild stuff into a single storyline, an opera complete with orchestration and a the twelve steps of a recovery program, become intrusive after a while, unconventional literary devices that might have worked in the second draft but probably should have been left on some editor's floor. Also, while his narrative voice is pitch-perfect and surprisingly consistent, the other characters in "Watch Your Mouth" never achieve much depth. Of course, depth isn't really the point of this sort of literary endeavor. The point is naughty, clever fun, and there's lots of that to be had here. Some of it can be surprisingly writerly, too. Handler artfully uses malapropism and misunderstandings to advance both "Watch Your Mouth's" dialogue and its plot has the knack of making the odd, unexpected metaphor work in his favor, most of the time. He's also got a deeper understanding of the storytelling process than he lets on, but this might be my biggest complaint about this book. By the time it reached its conclusion, I got the impression that Handler was a writer of undeniable literary talent just having some fun. That's fine, I suppose, since "Watch Your Mouth" is, after all, a comedy. Still, I'd curious to see what he could do if he ever decided to get serious. Show Less
LibraryThing member Amzzz
Possibly one of the most bizarre books I’ve ever read!
LibraryThing member omphalos02
More incredible writing from Handler, as he takes on golems and Jewish mythos. Great fun and quite weird
LibraryThing member Djupstrom
What a sassy departure from the kiddie classic series of Unfortunate Events. I liked The Basic Eight a lot, but this one just went too far. Handler was trying to push the envelope a bit too far with Watch Your Mouth. An opera and a novel combined??!? Come ON!!
LibraryThing member fabio
Deceptive and brilliant.
LibraryThing member librarybrandy
I finished this a week ago. And then had a baby. So this isn't a stellar review, or probably even an accurate representation of my thoughts on it.
I really enjoy Handler's writing. I like the way he puts sentences together, and I like a lot of his ideas. I like that he arranged this novel as a
So, I enjoyed this, but (a) it's not his best work, and is in fact the weakest of his adult novels, and (b) it's more about shock value than substance.
I really enjoy Handler's writing. I like the way he puts sentences together, and I like a lot of his ideas. I like that he arranged this novel as a
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verbal opera, into acts and scenes and intermissions. I like that it was, in part, a novel of Jewish folklore and the golem myth. But while I don't mind reading about sex (even particularly graphic sex), this novel really goes way too far into the sex, and it distracts from what ought to be the meat of the story. (Ugh. No pun intended. I can't think of the right word, though.)So, I enjoyed this, but (a) it's not his best work, and is in fact the weakest of his adult novels, and (b) it's more about shock value than substance.
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LibraryThing member Unreachableshelf
One of the strangest things that I have ever read. Weird and wonderful, not for the faint of heart, or for anybody looking for much meaning.
LibraryThing member AltheaAnn
At first, I had mixed feelings about this.
At times, I felt that the over-the-top content was very... collegiate. As in, it reminded me of work that was presented in some of my college writing classes: young people trying to see how far they can push things.
There are also a jarring difference
In the end though, and after thought, I decided this book deserved 4 stars. It succeeded where work in the aforementioned writing classes did not. The 'shocking' content is not merely gratuitous (as it seems at first), it functions in the context of creating an ambiguous study of family relations, love, and Jewish mythology. Oh yes, and murder. Magical realism or madness? You decide.
Still, I do understand, after reading this, why Handler decided to publish his books for younger readers under a different name.
Recommended for fans of Iain Banks' 'The Wasp Factory.'
At times, I felt that the over-the-top content was very... collegiate. As in, it reminded me of work that was presented in some of my college writing classes: young people trying to see how far they can push things.
There are also a jarring difference
Show More
between Part 1 & Part 2, to the point where it almost felt disconnected.In the end though, and after thought, I decided this book deserved 4 stars. It succeeded where work in the aforementioned writing classes did not. The 'shocking' content is not merely gratuitous (as it seems at first), it functions in the context of creating an ambiguous study of family relations, love, and Jewish mythology. Oh yes, and murder. Magical realism or madness? You decide.
Still, I do understand, after reading this, why Handler decided to publish his books for younger readers under a different name.
Recommended for fans of Iain Banks' 'The Wasp Factory.'
Show Less